Thursday, October 15, 2009

Ex 20:4-5You shall not make for yourself an idol in form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them...

Most people think the cross is a symbol of the church, and especially Christians revere the cross or worship it. They believe that the cross will keep them safe, so they wear the cross as an ornament or put it in their car. They pray before the cross or even use it to drive out demons. However, if we undertand how the early Christians thought about the cross and how it was introduced into the church, we can realize that it is foolish and wrong to worship the cross.

The early Christians shunned the cross because they considered it as a device of death and the accursed tree

The early Christians did not consider the cross as a virtuous symbol, but rather as "the accursed tree," a device of death and "shame" (Heb 12:2). They did not trust in an old rugged cross. Instead, their faith was in what was accomplished on the cross; and through this faith, they knew the full and complete forgiveness of sins!

From the Old testament times, it had been widedly recognized as a "shame" to be killed by being hung on a tree. Undertaking the shame, Jesus was cursed under the als for our sins on behalf of us. However, the cross itself was a symbol of cursed and shame. The early Christians never beautified the cross. It was not because they were ashamed of Christ's death, but because they considered the cross merely as a tree of death.

Ac 5:30Jesus... whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree

Gal 3:13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: cursed in everyone who is hung on a tree.

Dt 21:23... because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse.

The cross began to be used publicly from the time of Constatine

The public use of the cross was adopted by the Christians as a symbol at the time of Constatine.

For the Early Christians, surrounded by crucifixion as a grim fact of common experience, there was no danger of beautifying the cross by sentiment.

The cross, which the pagans used as their religious tool, ws introduced into the church when Christianity became paganized. For the Early Christians, the cross was a horrible execution tool so it was hardly imaginable to use the cross as a symbol of the church or accept it as a religious symbol.